Rocking contact type switch

ABSTRACT

The telescopic lever carries a spring loaded cam follower bearing against a cam contoured flipper blade pivotally supported in a center terminal to rock about a pivot point to contact an adjacent stationary contact. The contoured cam surface of the flipper blade combined with the pivot action and the direction of force application by the spring loaded follower acts to give the desired action to the toggle switch (momentary or sustained). All terminals and the flipper are stamped flat pieces which easily assemble into the base with great accuracy and low cost. Simple substitution of parts will change the characteristics of the switch while ensuring use of many common parts. A simple change can apply the concept to single pole or double pole operation. The toggle can be two or three position. Simple changes allow ten different switches. A key feature is the use of a flat center terminal and a flat flipper blade coplanar with one another whereby all necessary contours are formed in stamping operations with resultant accuracy.

United States Patent [72] Inventors DonaId.I.Bulgarelli llavertown;

Daniel E. McNeil, Brornall, both of, Pa. [21] AppLNo. 873,612

[22] Filed Nov. 3, 1969 [45] Patented June 15, 1971 [73] AssigneeControls Company of America Melrose Park, Ill.

[54] ROCKING CONTACT TYPE SWITCH 3 Claims, 4 Drawing Figs.

[52] 11.8. C1 200/67G .[51] I-I0lh 13/28 [50] Field of Search ZOO/67.7,68, 67

[56]. References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,268,173 6/1918 Stecker..200/67.7 (UX) 1,619,148 3/1927 Miller et a1. .....200/67.7 (UX)2,506,196 5/1950 Bourne 200/68 7/1967 Rogero ..200/67.7 (UX) PrimaryExaminer-David Smith, Jr.

Attorneys-John W. Michael, Gerrit D. Foster, Bayard l-I. Michael, PaulR. Puemer, Joseph A. Gemignai, Andrew 0. Riteris, Daniel Van Dyke,Spencer B. Michael, Joseph A. Gemignani, Andrew 0. Riteris, Daniel VanDyke and Spencer B. Michael ABSTRACT: The telescopic lever carries aspring loaded cam follower bearing against a cam contoured flipper bladepivotally supported in a center terminal to rock about a pivot point tocontact an adjacent stationary contact. The contoured cam surface of theflipper blade combined with the pivot action and the direction of forceapplication by the spring loaded follower acts to give the desiredaction to the toggle switch (momentary or sustained). All terminals andthe flipper are stamped flat pieces which easily assemble into the basewith great accuracy and low cost. Simple substitution of parts willchange the characteristics of the switch while ensuring use of manycommon parts. A simple change can apply the concept to single pole ordouble pole operation. The toggle can be two or three position. Simplechanges allow ten different switches. A key feature is the use of a flatcente'r terminal and a flat flipper blade coplanar with one anotherwhereby all necessary contours are formed in stamping operations withresultant accuracy.

ROCKING CONTACT TYPE SWITCH BACKGROUND OF INVENTION Rocking contact orflipper-type switches have heretofore used parts requiring formingoperations in addition to stamping in order to arrive at the requisitecomplex shapes. This, in turn, required complex housings. The nature ofthese designs generally required many different parts to accommodate thevarious switching actions. An example may be seen in US. Pat. No.3,350,521.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a verticalsection.

FIG. 2 is a vertical section taken at 90 to FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a bottomview.

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In the illustrated toggle switch,the stationary left-hand contacts are first placed in the base 12 incooperating slots and with the shoulders 14 resting in depressions tocapture (retain) the stationary contacts when the tube 16 is placed overthe base. Similarly, the center contacts 18 are positioned in the basewith the shoulders 20 captured between the base and the tube and theright-hand stationary contacts 22 are positioned in the same manner asthe contacts 10 with their shoulders 20 captured between the base andthe tube. The base is also provided with parallel extending slots' whichreceive the rocking blades or flippers 24. The slots in the tube confinethe flipper blades 24 to a rocking motion.

It will be noted that the flipper blades and all the contacts are flatstampings and thus capable of being manufactured to high precision atlow cost. The bat lever 26 has a somewhat spherical portion 28 which isreceived in the seat portion 30 of the case 32. This is assembled fromthe inside and the bat lever is provided with a spring 34 compressedbetween the upper (inside) end of the bat lever and the top of extension36 of the bat lever. At the lower end of the extension there is abifurcated cam 38 having cam portions riding on each of the flipperblades.

As the bat is moved towards the left, the cam will ride up the slope 40with the blades rocking about the pivot point 42 until the forces goover center about the pivot point 42 and the spring 34 rams the cam downalong the face 44 to a stable on" condition in which the flipper bladescontact the stationary contacts 22. Going back to the center positionmerely reverses the action and this is a stable center positiondesignated off." If the bat is moved to the right there can be no overcenter action and while the flipper blade rocks about pivot 46 it willmerely act to move the rocker blades into engagement with the stationaryterminals 10. Thus the illustrated switch has an action designatedmomentary-onoff on." If it is desired to have both extreme (opposite)positions be on" then the left-hand portion of the flipper blade is madethe same as the right portion. Obviously if two momentary.- on"positions are desired then both ends of the flipper blade are made tocorrespond to the left side of the illustrated blade.

In a single pole switch the base and tube are a different moldingproviding support and guidance for single contacts or terminalscorresponding to the double contacts at 10, 18, and 22 m the firstmodification. A single cam now acts on the centrally positioned centerterminal. For "on-on" operation the flipper blade would pivot on thecenter terminal in a wellknown manner.

In all of the configurations the flipper blade and the center terminal,which supports the blade and provides the fulcrum, are planar stampingsas are the stationary contacts or terminals. in all cases the housingcomprised of the base and tube provides the mounting and guidance forthe planar configuration and in the case of the flipper blade constrainsthe blade to a rocking motion in the desired plane. In this mannersimple stamped parts having great interchangeability can be utilizedwith significant cost savings. The assembly of the switch is a simplematter requiring no jigs or the like. The economy in manufacture andassembly results in a significant cost reduction while retaining all thedesirable characteristics of a high quality switch. It will also benoted that the tube is shaped to provide a slot or raceway in which thecam is freely movable and yet is guided to move only in the properplane.

We claim: I. In a rocking contact-type switch, a base having fixedplanar terminals mounted therein and supported thereby,

a planar contact blade supported by one of the terminals in edge to edgerelationship with interfitting curved shapes providing for rocking thecontact blade, the rocking blade being coplanar with the terminal uponwhich it is mounted and presenting a contoured edge,

a cam having an edge bearing against the contoured edge of the blade andcarried by a rockable bat-type lever with interposed spring means urgingthe cam edge against the edge of the rocking blade at all times whileimparting a motion to the rocking blade in accordance with therelationship of the spring force relative to the pivot point of therocking blade during actuation and to the pivot point of the bat lever.

2. The construction of claim 1 including means constraining motion ofthe cam to the plane including the rocking blade and said one terminal.

3. The construction according to claim 2 in which said one terminalsupporting the rocking blade has two spaced pivot points about which theblade may rock depending upon the action imparted by the bat lever, saidone terminal and the rocking blade supported thereby having cooperatinggenerally circular surface portions constraining the rocking blade tolimited motion relative to the terminal.

1. In a rocking contact-type switch, a base having fixed planarterminals mounted therein and supported thereby, a planar contact bladesupported by one of the terminals in edge to edge relationship withinterfitting curved shapes providing for rocking the contact blade, therocking blade being coplanar with the terminal upon which it is mountedand presenting a contoured edge, a cam having an edge bearing againstthe contoured edge of the blade and carried by a rockable bat-type leverwith interposed spring means urging the cam edge against the edge of therocking blade at all times while imparting a motion to the rocking bladein accordance with the relationship of the spring force relative to thepivot point of the rocking blade during actuation and to the pivot pointof the bat lever.
 2. The construction of claim 1 including meansconstraining motion of the cam to the plane including the rocking bladeand said one terminal.
 3. The construction according to claim 2 in whichsaid one terminal supporting the rocking blade has two spaced pivotpoints about which the blade may rock depending upon the action impartedby the bat lever, said one terminal and the rocking blade supportedthereby having cooperating generally circular surface portionsconstraining the rocking blade to limited motion relative to theterminal.